Thursday, July 26, 2012
How I Did On My Juice Fast
My buddy Doug asked me how I was doing on my juice fast. I gave him this answer, and he said I should post it. Sooooo - here ya go:
I failed at it, just like other diets - but I got through 5 days, and that was a start. It got me liking some vegetables and eating better. Even yesterday, where I felt I totally f'd up (I had a couple of fish tacos at Ruby Tuesdays with my salad bar, and then a big tuna wrap for dinner), I still wound up under my calories for the day. Granted, I get like 2,300 for being such a fat ass, so there's a LOT of wiggle room there, but it still feels good. I went to the docs on June 25th and weighed in at 311, the heaviest I've ever been. I began eating better shortly after, but really focusing July 9th. My next visit to the doc for consulting about the juice fast was July 17th. On that weigh-in, I weighed 290. Admittedly, a huge chunk of that was water weight - but it's still going down. I'm drinking a TON of water, and today I'm at about 279.
Yesterday was the first day I didn't juice, but I'm back on it today - I actually kind of missed it! I'm finding some recipes that I'm really grooving on, and I feel like I'm preparing to start the fast all over again, only this time better prepared. It's INSANE how many veggies you go through doing this - one 500ml drink (of which I'd drink FOUR of in one day) is something like this (my breakfast today): about 18 leaves of kale (or 6 cups, chopped), a small apple, half a lemon, a tomato, and two carrots. It doesn't sound like that much maybe, but that's a HUGE bushel of kale - that's like one trip to the store for me normally. Cucumbers give a lot of juice, but even with them I'm throwing in 4-6 per batch. I try to make a liter at a time, that way I have two meals at once. And then I'd clean the juicer and do another batch, and clean it again after that. So yeah, it's time consuming.
I was doing okay with the hunger, but what really messed me up was my sugars. I was trying to cut out as much sugar as possible (I'm consistently showing up as pre-diabetic in my blood tests), so I thought it would be simple with just veggies and some fruit. Instead, I learned the cucumbers are crazy high in sugar (well, relatively speaking)! So even my "best" concoctions still were putting me over the RDA for sugar in a day! I was HUGELY stressed out about that, and that frustration and my evening hunger (I'd always get cravings at night, especially making dinner for Becky) made it impossible to resist and I broke down and snacked. And once the floodgate was open, I just gave up and started eating again.
It was hugely disappointing, but I'm not dwelling on it. I'm still eating well (and struggling with self-control!), and if I can keep that part going, that's good enough. I'm now trying to get motivated to actually try exercise - I'm doing a little bit of walking, but I want to get my exercise bike cleaned off and give it a go. I would REALLY like to figure out a setup like the War Biker, but I don't know if I want to invest in another PC/HDTV for the basement. But if I could get this setup... man, that'd be sweet! I'd just have to figure out what game I'd play...
So that's probably way more info than you wanted, but there you go.
Friday, July 13, 2012
YUCK!
Pizza Time!
If there's going to be one food that's going to blow this vegan crap, it will be pizza. I LOOOOOOVE pizza. And I love all those gross, unhealthy things you're not supposed to have on it - sausage, pepperoni, anchovies - you name it.
Now I know I'm SUPPOSED to hate pizza. That's my schtick here, hating foods I used to love. But can I do that with PIZZA, my most seductive mistress?
Of course!
No, what a filthy lie. I still love her and want to put my face right into her.
So you can imagine mylust happiness LUST when I came across pizza in the vegan foods section!
Now I'm not gonna lie - the fact that this contained "vegan" in the title made me want to punch it right in the pie pan. Damn hippy food. And really, I've tasted "healthy" pizza before. I know how this goes - the picture on the box looks delicious, and the reality is a damp slice of cardboard with one topping for every twelve inches of pizza.
So it was a certain sense of doom I popped this onto our pizza stone and into the oven (I had to at least try that much - ANY pizza is gross in the microwave, so why not give this SOME sort of chance?). It only took about ten minutes to heat up, which was a surprise - being a long-time veteran of frozen pizza meals, I expected at least a 20-minute wait in the oven. The brief cooking time, I assumed, was a sure sign of the disgusting cardboard I was about to eat.
Now, a better blogger would have taken a picture of the pizza when they took it out of the oven. I would have done that, only that would have interfered with me stuffing this delicious concoction into my mouth.
I expected dull, gross flavors. Especially that "fake" cheese - I mean, it doesn't contain any dairy! How can it possibly taste okay?
The answer, to my surprise, was that it didn't taste okay - it tasted downright delicious! Everything on that pizza tasted fresh and juicy. And that was one small problem - because I cooked it on a pizza stone, it did seem very "wet" in the center. I think that's because the tomatoes and sauce on it were full of pretty fresh vegetables, so of course they were wet! The tomatoes really burst with flavor, and the sauce blended together so perfectly with the cheese I could have wept. The crust was not only NOT cardboard, it had an excellent texture and was perfect crisp around the edge, just how I love it. I did bake it a little longer than the suggested 10 mins, but only by another minute, and because I like my pizza a little well-done.
This pizza blew me away. Not only that, I'm sorry I didn't buy more than just one - this is an awesome quick meal, and super easy to bake in a short period of time. The next day I reheated leftovers for lunch and it was just as delicious. Not only that, I shared pieces with my (very non-vegan) co-workers, and they all agreed it was delicious, so this isn't just some calorie-starved-induced-hallucination from me.
I'm definitely going to check out several other foods from Amy's Kitchen - something that should be pretty easy, considering there's a number of them in our Giant's health food section.
Now I know I'm SUPPOSED to hate pizza. That's my schtick here, hating foods I used to love. But can I do that with PIZZA, my most seductive mistress?
Of course!
No, what a filthy lie. I still love her and want to put my face right into her.
So you can imagine my
Now I'm not gonna lie - the fact that this contained "vegan" in the title made me want to punch it right in the pie pan. Damn hippy food. And really, I've tasted "healthy" pizza before. I know how this goes - the picture on the box looks delicious, and the reality is a damp slice of cardboard with one topping for every twelve inches of pizza.
So it was a certain sense of doom I popped this onto our pizza stone and into the oven (I had to at least try that much - ANY pizza is gross in the microwave, so why not give this SOME sort of chance?). It only took about ten minutes to heat up, which was a surprise - being a long-time veteran of frozen pizza meals, I expected at least a 20-minute wait in the oven. The brief cooking time, I assumed, was a sure sign of the disgusting cardboard I was about to eat.
Now, a better blogger would have taken a picture of the pizza when they took it out of the oven. I would have done that, only that would have interfered with me stuffing this delicious concoction into my mouth.
I expected dull, gross flavors. Especially that "fake" cheese - I mean, it doesn't contain any dairy! How can it possibly taste okay?
The answer, to my surprise, was that it didn't taste okay - it tasted downright delicious! Everything on that pizza tasted fresh and juicy. And that was one small problem - because I cooked it on a pizza stone, it did seem very "wet" in the center. I think that's because the tomatoes and sauce on it were full of pretty fresh vegetables, so of course they were wet! The tomatoes really burst with flavor, and the sauce blended together so perfectly with the cheese I could have wept. The crust was not only NOT cardboard, it had an excellent texture and was perfect crisp around the edge, just how I love it. I did bake it a little longer than the suggested 10 mins, but only by another minute, and because I like my pizza a little well-done.
This pizza blew me away. Not only that, I'm sorry I didn't buy more than just one - this is an awesome quick meal, and super easy to bake in a short period of time. The next day I reheated leftovers for lunch and it was just as delicious. Not only that, I shared pieces with my (very non-vegan) co-workers, and they all agreed it was delicious, so this isn't just some calorie-starved-induced-hallucination from me.
I'm definitely going to check out several other foods from Amy's Kitchen - something that should be pretty easy, considering there's a number of them in our Giant's health food section.
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Introduction to Vegan Foods
So I decided to try vegan foods. Do I capitalize that? I don't care, it's damn dirty hippy food, so they don't get a capital v. Take that.
Almonds as a snack are a given (also as a projectile to torment the cats. Or the wife. Or both, if ). And Nature's Promise is a brand I see all the time, so it was nothing new. But I'm still not sure whether raw or roasted are better for you - and if there's really that big a difference, nutrition-wise. But almonds are delicious, and I love getting a handful of them to snack on, especially while I'm working. They're low in saturated fat and have TONS of protein - which is great for someone who's looking to cut meat out. So that's an instant win.
But then I went on the interwebs and read a bit. For starters, my beloved almonds have more fat (17g) in a serving - but only 2 of those are saturated fats, the "bad" ones (well, one of the bad ones - trans fats are downright evil). The rest are mono- and poly-unsaturated fats, the "good" fats. And that's the same for the Larabar - just 2 saturated fats, with 6 mono- and 3 poly-saturated fats. Uh... Which doesn't add up to 12 - well, the 12th one evaporates. Once I learned that it wasn't as fatty as I had thought, I gave it a try, and found it to be pretty good - it definitely tastes of dates, but it's a smooth flavor like a PB&J sandwich made with REALLY thick jelly...
There's my first two snacks, and they're tasty. The Larabar isn't nearly as delicious as almonds, but it does have a great peanut-buttery taste, and considering it's only dates, peanuts and sea salt, it's impressive. Unfortunately, it's also a bit pricey - so while it was good to try and a nice treat, it probably won't be a regular.
The first important thing to look into for any diet is what you will snack on. Trust me, I'm an expert. Well, no, not really. But that's always top of my mind, so when I decided to venture into the "Healthy Foods" section of my local Giant Foods, I was really shocked by first how huge it was, and second by how many of the foods actually looked... Well, not necessarily appealing, but certainly not as terrifying as I'd imagined. Sure, there was still some broccoli stuff here and there, and I even saw (shudder) a brussel sprout.
I controlled the urge to flee and explored further.
The first thing I sought out was snacks. There were plenty of things that caught my eye, and I wanted to try a lot of them. But the first thing I decided to try was some vegan snacks.
Almonds as a snack are a given (also as a projectile to torment the cats. Or the wife. Or both, if ). And Nature's Promise is a brand I see all the time, so it was nothing new. But I'm still not sure whether raw or roasted are better for you - and if there's really that big a difference, nutrition-wise. But almonds are delicious, and I love getting a handful of them to snack on, especially while I'm working. They're low in saturated fat and have TONS of protein - which is great for someone who's looking to cut meat out. So that's an instant win.
The next item was a "Larabar - Peanut Butter Cookie," and it is made from unbelievably simple ingredients: dates, peanuts and sea salt. It also contains 220 calories, 70 mg of salt and 12 grams of fat. When I read that on the label, I was ready to throw it out - if you consider it's being delivered to you in one 48-gram cookie, that's a little off-putting. It's a tiny food with a big calorie footprint.
But then I went on the interwebs and read a bit. For starters, my beloved almonds have more fat (17g) in a serving - but only 2 of those are saturated fats, the "bad" ones (well, one of the bad ones - trans fats are downright evil). The rest are mono- and poly-unsaturated fats, the "good" fats. And that's the same for the Larabar - just 2 saturated fats, with 6 mono- and 3 poly-saturated fats. Uh... Which doesn't add up to 12 - well, the 12th one evaporates. Once I learned that it wasn't as fatty as I had thought, I gave it a try, and found it to be pretty good - it definitely tastes of dates, but it's a smooth flavor like a PB&J sandwich made with REALLY thick jelly...
There's my first two snacks, and they're tasty. The Larabar isn't nearly as delicious as almonds, but it does have a great peanut-buttery taste, and considering it's only dates, peanuts and sea salt, it's impressive. Unfortunately, it's also a bit pricey - so while it was good to try and a nice treat, it probably won't be a regular.
Why We're Here
This is pretty simple: I'm here because I am a disgusting fatbody. You're here because you're interested/appalled/fascinated/disgusted by me and what I'm trying to accomplish. The journey we're both on is seeing if I can stop being a disgusting fatbody.
I'll be frank you with: I don't have much hope. I've tried countless diets, numerous exercise regimes, etc, etc. All of them have failed for one reason: me. I lacked the willpower to get serious about my weight. I always had an excuse as to why I could eat that candy/cheese puff/pork chop/entire cow. And once I screwed up once, well, where was the incentive to keep trying?
Everyone has told me not to make radical changes, to take it easy, to go slow. But I've tried going slow. It just doesn't work for me. I need radical. I need a shock to my system. I need to stop being so goddamned fat and lazy.
The trouble for me is that I don't eat because I'm hungry. I eat because I'm bored, because I like (love!) the taste of food, and because I look cooking food. I love everything about food; how it tastes, how it smells, the sound of it frying (in butter, of course), the sensation of biting into a nice juicy burger that's been stuffed with cheese and how it melts into your mouth... Yeah. To top my food porn addiction off, I am lazy. HUGELY lazy. A lot of my friends don't believe that, because I'm often working on my house, running around on chores, and taking care of my disabled wife. But the truth is, you'd be hard pressed to find a lazier SOB than me. I only do a lot of things because I HAVE to, not because I'm any sort of motivated. Trust me - the number of projects around the house that I've started and have yet to finish are truly staggering!
Anyway, some things have happened recently to really change my thinking. No, not getting fat & unhealthy - that's been going on for a while, and has never motivated me enough. The big changes came from education and learning more about food in general.
For starters, my friend Jorge Vega began "juicing." Although this sounds like a wacky steroid regime, it's actually living on fresh-juiced fruits and vegetables for a period of time. Inspired by the movie Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, Jorge and his wife decided to try "rebooting" their system through a juice fast. I was fascinated, because I had never heard of such a thing. I wanted to say it sounded like some crazy fad diet, but I know Jorge's not prone to that sort of rubbish. So when he started posting about the juicing and what he was going through, it really sparked an interest.
Then I started reading about nutrition. I read some articles at LiveStrong.com, WebMD, and even crazy sites like Men's Health. I went on to watch these documentaries:
Food Fight
Fresh
Forks Over Knives
Forks Over Knives particularly resonated with me. I'm a HUGE meat eater; and even discounting that incredible deliciousness, I'm an even more avid milk drinker. I grew up on it, I would start my day with a glass of milk, I knew it was healthy, and I had no interest in goddamned hippies telling me otherwise. But now?
I just bought my very first container of Soy Milk. Hold me.
Starting out, I tipped the scales at 309, the heaviest I've ever been. I managed to get that back down around 301, and that's where I'm starting. Big, fat, 301. Thanks to a long time of eating foods that I really loved and avoiding things that I considered to be "not" food - vegetables, fruits, whole grains and those pesky legumes. But now I've become disgusted by "food" - the things I used to shovel in my fat face as fast as I could.
Now, I hate "food." Let's see how long that lasts.
I'll be frank you with: I don't have much hope. I've tried countless diets, numerous exercise regimes, etc, etc. All of them have failed for one reason: me. I lacked the willpower to get serious about my weight. I always had an excuse as to why I could eat that candy/cheese puff/pork chop/entire cow. And once I screwed up once, well, where was the incentive to keep trying?
Everyone has told me not to make radical changes, to take it easy, to go slow. But I've tried going slow. It just doesn't work for me. I need radical. I need a shock to my system. I need to stop being so goddamned fat and lazy.
The trouble for me is that I don't eat because I'm hungry. I eat because I'm bored, because I like (love!) the taste of food, and because I look cooking food. I love everything about food; how it tastes, how it smells, the sound of it frying (in butter, of course), the sensation of biting into a nice juicy burger that's been stuffed with cheese and how it melts into your mouth... Yeah. To top my food porn addiction off, I am lazy. HUGELY lazy. A lot of my friends don't believe that, because I'm often working on my house, running around on chores, and taking care of my disabled wife. But the truth is, you'd be hard pressed to find a lazier SOB than me. I only do a lot of things because I HAVE to, not because I'm any sort of motivated. Trust me - the number of projects around the house that I've started and have yet to finish are truly staggering!
Anyway, some things have happened recently to really change my thinking. No, not getting fat & unhealthy - that's been going on for a while, and has never motivated me enough. The big changes came from education and learning more about food in general.
For starters, my friend Jorge Vega began "juicing." Although this sounds like a wacky steroid regime, it's actually living on fresh-juiced fruits and vegetables for a period of time. Inspired by the movie Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, Jorge and his wife decided to try "rebooting" their system through a juice fast. I was fascinated, because I had never heard of such a thing. I wanted to say it sounded like some crazy fad diet, but I know Jorge's not prone to that sort of rubbish. So when he started posting about the juicing and what he was going through, it really sparked an interest.
Then I started reading about nutrition. I read some articles at LiveStrong.com, WebMD, and even crazy sites like Men's Health. I went on to watch these documentaries:
Food Fight
Fresh
Forks Over Knives
Forks Over Knives particularly resonated with me. I'm a HUGE meat eater; and even discounting that incredible deliciousness, I'm an even more avid milk drinker. I grew up on it, I would start my day with a glass of milk, I knew it was healthy, and I had no interest in goddamned hippies telling me otherwise. But now?
I just bought my very first container of Soy Milk. Hold me.
Starting out, I tipped the scales at 309, the heaviest I've ever been. I managed to get that back down around 301, and that's where I'm starting. Big, fat, 301. Thanks to a long time of eating foods that I really loved and avoiding things that I considered to be "not" food - vegetables, fruits, whole grains and those pesky legumes. But now I've become disgusted by "food" - the things I used to shovel in my fat face as fast as I could.
Now, I hate "food." Let's see how long that lasts.
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